Find out what's happening behind the scenes in the organisation that maintains Scotland's land and property registers.

Single channel: Quicker and easier paper applications using DDS

Quicker and easier paper applications

From 21 November, DDS users will be able to generate land register application forms for paper discharges through the same intuitive step-by-step process as DDS. You’ll be able to view and access them on your dashboard, where they will be marked as ‘paper’ for easy identification.

By showing them on the dashboard, DDS adds peace of mind to paper forms, as you can now easily revisit both draft and completed ones. With eForms, returning to draft forms involved keeping a note of a custom URL for the draft, so this is a big improvement for customers.

When creating paper applications, users will now benefit from the features that have made DDS such a success. For instance, your granter and applicant details are now usually imported for you, and your FAS number will auto-select if there’s only one.

The title information details for the security are also shown on the service, adding an extra layer of validation for the process. You’ll also skip the sections of eForms that aren’t necessary for discharges, such as the deed inventory, Register of Inhibitions (ROI) and the land use sections.

The final output that’s submitted to RoS will look the same as an application form generated using eForms, with one minor difference – the granter address and company number are not required on the form where the service is able to import the granter details, as we already have that information.

The end result is a user journey that is quicker, more efficient and tailored for customers looking to discharge a standard security.

Streamlining the standard security discharge process

The Digital Discharge Service (DDS) has been a notable success since its launch last year with nearly 40,000 discharges completed through the service, as well as the delivery of significant benefits in efficiency and ease of use for both customers and RoS staff.

An important part of this success is the intuitive interface of DDS, and how it’s integrated with RoS datasets. Since the initial development of DDS we’ve worked closely with our users to collect their direct feedback and better understand how they use our services and how we can better meet their needs. With this in mind, our development teams have been looking at how this service can be used to improve processes elsewhere.

Hundreds of discharges are processed through DDS every week, however for some discharges a paper application is still required, which is currently generated through our eForms service and then printed. DDS, however, is specifically designed around the discharge process, and therefore we’ve developed improvements to the service to handle paper discharges too.

We’re encouraging our customers to use the service when the paper application process goes live on 21 November. The only exceptions for this service will be those securities on the application record, securities over more than one title and those that discharge multiple securities in one deed. In the meantime, if you have any questions please contact your RoS customer relationship manager.